My 7-year-old daughter’s first IEP is still in the drafting stage. I want to see “Goals and Objectives” that address the major issues identified in the “Present Levels of Educational Performance” section of the IEP (such as reading and math), and use grade level or age level equivalents for these things. The school has declined to do this. According to our special ed teacher, the school is supposed to take IEP goals from a statewide “Framework of Standards.” Unfortunately, these state framework goals mean nothing to me as a lay person.
Our special ed teacher is a gifted and caring educator — one of the best. She taught my daughter how to read, and does wonders for her self-esteem. I just get the impression that this teacher is, like my daughter, getting caught in the middle of a somewhat counterproductive IEP negotiation process.
I’d like my daughter’s IEP to give us some idea where she is now, and where she could be in a year, given appropriate education, with respect to the general education curriculum. (This seems to be what the federal statute and regulations require, anyway.) Is this grade/age-level issue worth fighting for, or am I way off base? Is there some other effective way to get similarly meaningful IEP provisions, without using grade levels or age levels? Thanks.
Melanie Kehne
Re: IEP issues (long)
When it comes to things like reading skills and math skills, standardized percentiles are in my opinion the best way to go. Grade levels are themselves pretty vague.
Re: IEP issues (long)
I readminister the Woodcock Johnson every year prior to annual review (I do not write my goals/objectives based on this, though). I do this so we can all look at the standard scores and compare year to year, we want to establish a general upward trend. Can you get goals written to skills and agree in the IEP that you will get an annual update on standard scores for areas of disability?
Thanks!
Thanks, Sue J., Anitya, and Andy, for your thoughts and comments. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you ~ I have been offline for a few days.
Anitya: Annual testing is no problem, and it will be nice to see what difference a year makes in terms of test scores. And, Andy, I really appreciate the support and the resource list. (I didn’t know that Socks has her own website!) My goal is to advocate for our daughter WITHOUT alienating our terrific special ed teacher, or anyone else. Unfortunately, I don’t always succeed … Sue J: I suspect that standardized test scores tell a lot more than grade or age levels if you understand them. For me, however, grade and age levels are more meaningful.
Knowing that no set of numbers can begin to paint the whole picture, grade and age levels give me some idea how far behind she is, and, with repeated tests, how far she has progressed. I want this IEP to shoot for bringing her up to grade level in however many years it takes. Still pondering whether/how can we do this if the IEP is based on standardized test scores … Thanks again for the help!
Melanie
Re: IEP issues (long)
Dear Melanie,
I am a firm believer in grade level goals,I believe the school should be attempting to attain grade level expectations. I feel ,by personal experience that standarized testing,whether informal or formal,should be used as a means of checking progress. Before and after the IEP goals are written. Too many times my kiddo,tricked his teacher into thinking he was up on what was going on,only to break down at home. The standardized test was the only indicator that he most defenitely wasn’t on grade level in Math. Written Language is a much harder assessment to obtain,but on the other hand it is also much harder to fake too. Yes, I do have a website:-) I am building it,little by little. It has links to my favorite sites,Laws,and articles. I am currently writing sample letters for parents to use,such as a request for evaluation,etc. It will have stories the parents fight through the special ed. maze,this to help others along the way.( Andy!) It is most defenitely a cooperative effort. I am just another parent who has been there! AND, I am also hosting a Educational rights advocacy chat on Thurs.9pm on Net-haven,check this out,also. My address is http://specialedmom.homestead.com/index.html
Grade level issue, cont'd.
Thanks, Socks. I agree that test scores AND grade levels would be useful ways to gauge present performance and goals in an IEP. By the way, your website looks great! Nice work!
Melanie
I wouldn’t even make this one a “fight”. Go to the sites where the laws are spelled out, locate a copy of your state laws for special ed and then copy (photo copy or print out) the exact law, verbatim on where the law describes the parts of an IEP and submit it during the IEP meeting.
Also, it might be of help to tape record the meeting. Only give 24 hr notice that you wish to tape. Just say it’s so you can review it at home, as it gets confusing and you want to be sure you understood all that went on…
If you don’t have the child’s current level of function on the IEP, then how will the success of the IEP in effect be measured the following year??? This one shouldn’t be that tough, and there certainly shouldn’t be a big fuss over the subject.
You are very lucky to have such a good teacher, be careful not to put her on the hot seat in front of her administrators. If she gets pinched hard between a rock and a hard place, you are then asking her to choose between your child and her job (basically). You may want to ask her off the record what can you do as a parent to help matters… but again, do not betray her confidence either.
Good luck.
Andy
ps/ web sites like www.wrightslaw.com, www.edlaw.com and “sock’s site” from her posts on this bb should help you locate the laws if you have trouble finding them.